HMRC Simple Assessment

UnsureAboutthis

itsthelittlethings said:

UnsureAboutthis said:

poseidon1 said:

itsthelittlethings said:

I don’t think you fully understand how tax works.

But in all fairness to the OP, neither does the majority of the working population.

Those who take time and effort to research and understand the system are a small minority. I am still amazed at the  misapprehension held by some people,  that moving  into higher rate tax means one's entire income is taxed at 40% or above.

Exactly that. Tax is a complex animal. Millions don't
understand the full workings of this, anything for that matter.

People post here to seek help/advice/guidance/recommendations and 
99.9% will then add a bit more of their own research to reach their
goal, having a better grasp on this.

My tax returns does my head in, I just pay, and this year, I noted the 
tax people owned me money when I logged into the self-assessment.
As I said, tax is a very complex animal and even
Accountants can seek advice

Tax can get very complex but thinking you should be earning 44k on PAYE then take as many pension withdrawals as you like and only be charged at 20% demonstrates a lack of awareness of even the basics.

Are you saying that what is "basics" to you means it's
basic for everyone else?  If so, then I have nothing else to add
as most of the others will be aware that this is not the case.
As I said, tax is a complex animal and nothing "basics" about it to
many.

brewerdave

HMRC " Simple" Assessment ? I think not !!

DRS1

brewerdave said:

HMRC " Simple" Assessment ? I think not !!

There speaks a man who has never had to do a self assessment tax return.

And for the record when they started sending me Simple Assessments as well I had exactly the same reaction as you.  They were trying to tax me twice on the same income.

monkey-fingers

As an aside, even as a PAYE employee, HMRC haven't been able to get it right for at least 10 years.
The whole point of PAYE is that it's done for you.

eskbanker

monkey-fingers said:

As an aside, even as a PAYE employee, HMRC haven't been able to get it right for at least 10 years.
The whole point of PAYE is that it's done for you.

PAYE has never been painted as a foolproof model, it's simply an attempt to collect anticipated tax liabilities throughout the tax year, rather than letting them accumulate so that tax would only be paid in arrears.  However, the system is heavily reliant on projected estimates of income so is rarely going to be 100% accurate - it ought to be pretty close for someone whose only taxable income is a single source of employment/pension with a fixed monthly payment, but beyond that there are often going to be adjustments needed....